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Tag Archives: Revolutionary War

Summary: This is a great historical thriller that takes place soon after the Revolutionary War. It follows the lives of two strangers, Joan Maycott and Ethan Saunders, as they try to make a life for themselves in a new and unstable nation. At the center is Alexander Hamilton, Treasury Secretary, who has become the enemy of both Joan and Ethan.

Joan and her husband Andrew have sold all they own for the chance at a good life on the Western Pennsylvania frontier. Whiskey, not money, is the currency on the frontier and Andrew has developed a new method of distilling whiskey that is sure to make the Maycotts and their partners a very powerful force. That is, however, until Alexander Hamilton proposes a tax on whiskey that the whiskey producers cannot pay.

Ethan has a different reason for hating Hamilton. Ethan blames Hamilton for the false accusations of treason leveed against him during the war. Accusations that cost Ethan his reputation and his fiancee. The real question is how far will these two people go to exact revenge on their enemies. Though this is a historical novel, the references to the fragile economy and manipulation of the stock market is interesting and timely.

Summary: In his new book, Kenneth Davis has highlighted 6 episodes in American history that have been somewhat overlooked but were very important in the development of our nation. All 6 episodes took place before 1790. The first chapter starts with the voyage of Christopher Columbus and other explorers who reached the new world. An interesting fact: Did you know that it is now believed that many of the diseases that devestated the native people of the America’s were spread by the pigs that Columbus brought with him to the New World? They were allowed to forage in the woods, passing diseases on to deer and turkeys…and humans.

In Chapter 3, Washington’s Confession,we learn that George Washington, as a young officer made a fateful decision to attack a group of French soldiers he happened upon during a mission as an emissary for Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia. After the ambush he realized it was a French diplomat’s party that he attacked and he was essentially responsible for the murder of an ambassador. This caused an even greater strain on the relationship between France and England.

Davis does not present an in-depth look at all of these episodes. He does, however, give the reader enough information to understand the significance of the events and perhaps pique the reader’s interest to find and read a more thorough account of these tales from our nation’s past.

Who will like this book?: Anyone interested in early American history.

If you like this, try this: Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis